The Bronco Raptor was not the only off-roading edition to the Built Wild lineup for 2022. Ford also added the Bronco Everglades. Mercifully, Ford did not bring us to the actual Everglades in June to test its new mud-blasting Florida Man SUV. Instead, we traveled to a more temperate equivalent: Michigan’s water-logged Drummond Island east of the Upper Peninsula.
As a Michigander, I anticipated this trip would be an ordeal. Ford doesn’t (and doesn’t need to) treat the Bronco preciously at press events: we had a 12-hour itinerary beginning at 5:30 am; Ford inquired about my shoe size to fit me for a set of waders beforehand; and even less encouragingly, a table at our staging area offered industrial-strength DEET and full-on mosquito net hats.
The off-road drive — a more-than-five-hour trek through deep mud, standing water, floating logs and rock obstacles seen and unseen — lived up to my expectations. But the Bronco Everglades made it all feel effortless. I kept the waders in the box, as my Bronco didn’t get stuck — even when three-point-turning in deep mud to do a winch demonstration. And — but for a couple of impressively large insects that invaded the cabin — it was a surprisingly peaceful, muddy afternoon.
What is the Ford Bronco Everglades?
Everglades is a new Bronco trim for 2022. It starts with the Sasquatch package: massive 35-inch “Goodyear Goodyear” mud-terrain tires, Bilstein position-sensitive dampers and front and rear lockers, and so forth. Ford adds a factory-installed (and Bronco-specific) Warn Winch and a factory-installed snorkel, throws in some Everglades graphics and adds Carbonized Gray painted alloy wheels that sort of look like steelies.
The Everglades trim is only available on the four-door, 2.3-liter Bronco with the 10-speed automatic transmission. Sorry, stick shift fans.